IRNSS is India’s Version of GPS Navigation System for the Entire World

GPS has shaped up as an essential technology on our daily lives. Apart from the fact that it helps us navigate and track phones, it also helps us use on–demand service apps like Uber, Swarm and a ton of other location based applications. Till now we have been relying on the American Global Positioning System (GPS), but now we have a new choice in the form of Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System, abbreviated as IRNSS.

Starting from today, ISRO will be holding a major meeting in Bangalore which will involve talks with the location and navigation device manufacturers, phone manufacturers and GIS (Global Information System) developers. The gathering will focus on explaining them the advantages of IRNSS over the current GPS technology.

ISRO’s seven IRNSS constellation satellites will be operational from July next year and they are expected to be more accurate than the American GPS system. The meeting will be presided by senior scientists from Space Application Centre (SAC), Ahemedabad.

In order to receive the S-Band signals from the IRNSS satellites, ISRO recommends that managers incorporate a small additional hardware in the devices alongside a code in the phone software which will in turn help to receive the L-Band signals. This means, existing smartphones and other devices can’t automatically latch on to IRNSS.

A Senior ISRO official stated that the L and the S band signals received from the seven satellite constellation will be calculated by a special embedded software that reduces the errors caused by atmospheric disturbances. This, according to the scientists, will give it an edge over the American GPS.

The seven satellites of IRNSS will be expected to be in the Orbit from March 2016 and the signals will not just be available for India, but will also be available globally. IRNSS has been ISRO’s latest endeavor to build an independent satellite navigation system to facilitate precise position, velocity and time to the users of the Indian Region with the fourth satellite already in place the IRNSS will be the first Indian satellite based navigation system.

The IRNSS might result in a more accurate turn by turn navigation system and a increased penetration of the signals. It seems that the new positioning system will work only once the additional pieces of required hardware are put in place thus making it impossible for the older devices to get this feature.

Mahit Huilgol Senior Author Mahit Huilgol is a Mechanical Engineering graduate and is a Technology and Automobile aficionado. He ditched the Corporate boardroom wars in the favor for technology battle ground. Also a foodie by heart and loves both the edible chips and the non-edible silicon chips.